Please note that the authentication certifies the signature of the respective official. Therefore the documents must be signed for authentication.
Excerpts from commercial register are usually issued in Germany without a signature. Upon request the excerpts are signed by the local court.
You can see in our country list for which country you need the Apostille or Legalization.
Below you can obtain information to the following topics:
Only public documents can be attested with the Apostille or be legalized. Public documents are e.g. civil status records, judicial and notarial deeds, certificates of administrative authorities.
Private documents are e.g. holographic wills, informal sales contracts or powers of attorney. For the Apostille or legalization private documents must be attested by a notary public.
In countries which are not members Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents 05.10.1961 (Hague Convention), documents are only recognized if its authenticity has been confirmed (legalized) by the appropriate consular representation of the country you want to use the document.
Every country has different regulations regarding mentioned attestations.
You can see the country list if the legalization is required for your document.
The Apostille is regulated by the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents 05.10.1961 (Hague Convention) and is a simplified form of authentication.
Prior certification by the relevant authorities and the legalization by the appropriate consular representations are not necessary. It is only issued the Apostille by the competent authority.
The Apostille replace the leglization only in countries which are member aforementioned Convention.
You can see the country list if the legalization is required for your document.
There are bilateral agreements between individual countries such as e.g. between Austria and Germany, or between Germany and Switzerland, regulating the exemption of some or all documents from any further authentication.
You can see the country list if your documents are exempt from authentication in the country you want to use them.
In Germany documents from civil registries can only be authenticated or legalized if they are not older than 6 months. However there are exceptions such as with school certificates or court judgments.
In the UK and the United States the regulations are different. We therefore advise you to contact us in this matter.
Some countries require additional certifications of translations in additional to the authentication of the original document.
If you translate the documents in the country in which you will submit them you can be sure that the translations are accepted.
See the costs for the Apostille and the Legalization in our actual price list.
Contact us for further information.